Looking ahead

I am writing this on Wednesday evening with a glass of wine! I spent the whole day en casa (at home), no jarring bus rides, a chance to relax a little. I chatted with Nini on Skype this morning and they suggested coming to see me, which is what they did - with Sofi of course. We spent a pleasant afternoon planning our trip to Buenaventura. Ah, I didn't tell you!
Maybe I am making too big a thing with them about when Alexander gets the all-clear from the doctors over his shoulder but that is when he has no excuse not to get work. At the earliest, it will be 11th January when he has a visit to the physio. So I said that, if we go anywhere, it has to be before then.
So... this is the plan. We are going to Buenaventura, on the Pacific coast! It is a big port, so we are not actually going into the city. First we take the bus to Buga which is about 50km short of Calí, it is about 4 hours. Buga is the centre of a wonderful region of lakes and rivers. I have already booked a hotel in Booking.com for Friday night, I let Nini choose it. And then we can meander towards the coast. Spend two days on a beach or visiting the islands. On the return, maybe we will stay in the same hotel and return to Pereira in time for Alexander's appointment on the afternoon of the 11th. A perfect window!
So, I will have much to tell you. This will be our one major excursion rather in the same way as taking Nini to Cartagena last time. Tomorrow I will be seeing them again but we haven't planned anything specific. When they came to see me today, I asked them that, surely they had things to do at home. The answer was no. They would just watch TV, I think. So they came to watch me instead. I wish I could stimulate them with some new interests. I wanted to create a website for their cake making...
By the way, this "virus" I have been talking about.... I don't believe now that it is a real illness, I think it is psychosomatic, caused by the stress of travel and jet lag. Anyway, the family are in good health so it is obviously not catching, whatever it is! 
I wish I would stop beating myself up over losing the phone. I think I am more forgiving of other people than myself. Or maybe I am scared at how the mind can get so completely befuddled when it is so tired. It is not so bad if there is a problem with a leg or an arm, but the brain is Central Control and if that stops functioning properly then we are in trouble. But that day was rather like astronaut traning. Let's take Steve around lots of supermarkets after a late night and see what happens. And what is really daft. Today, 3 days after the event, I suddenly realised, maybe I dropped the phone in the street, I never checked. D'oh.
I received the refund from Airbnb today. €500? no way. It was €34 less than that. I wonder where that got swallowed up....